It’s time to crank up the stereo and hit the open road once again, as Microsoft has announced Forza Horizon 2, the next installment in their flagship racing series. Forza Horizon 2 is in development for Xbox One and Xbox 360 and due for release this fall.

The racer follows 2012’s critically acclaimed franchise spinoff Forza Horizon for Xbox 360 and 2013’s frontline Xbox One launch game Forza Motorsport 5. Development is being handled primarily by Horizon 1 studio Playground Games, though the team is collaborating closely with the Motorsport team at Turn 10 Studios; the two teams share a technology pipeline as well as select key personnel.

Hello, Lambo.

“[Turn 10 and Playground] share this belief that we can create a true home for racing fans on Xbox One,” said Horizon 2 creative director Ralph Fulton.

In making the leap to Xbox One, Forza Horizon 2 will include hundreds of cars, according to Playground Games, headlined by the 2015 Lamborghini Huracán. A long-awaited weather system will also make its Forza debut, while Forza 5’s Drivatar system is also being adapted for Horizon 2.

As for the game’s setting? Contrary to recent rumors, it won’t take place in the bayous of Louisiana. Instead, the game will take place in gorgeous Southern Europe, leading to, in Fulton’s words, “incredible diversity” and “amazing vistas.” Music will again play a big part in the game, and a music festival will be the central event around which the game’s activities revolve.

Extensive improvements and features are in store for Horizon 2, which IGN will showcase throughout June as part of our brand-new IGN First initiative. We traveled to Playground Games in the UK and brought back a (metric!) ton of content that we’re excited to share with you all month long, including tomorrow’s full preview of our hands-on time with the game.

That sound you hear in the distance is the sound check for another music festival and the revving up of supercar engines…

Cool to see MS still supporting the 360. Hopefully it doesn't hold back the X1 version much. It's also nice to hear that they are taking ideas that have worked with Forza 5 and using them in another game.

This is another surprise announcement before E3 though. I mean this kind of thing would seem to scream E3 debut, but not this time. It really makes you wonder what they are saving for E3.

I am very excited about this game, I am not a fan of racing games normally; not since NFS:Underground. Forza Horizon was one I genuinely loved. I have been hoping the rumors were true, and now its official.

side note: use the forza rewards website (once a month?) to get extra cash and cars, rewards vary depending on how many other Forza games you've played, and how much you've played them FM5 is included so its safe to assume FH2 will also be added.

Lastly, for those who love achievements, ill be back here in the fall asking for and helping with the highly likely to appear social achievements for photo likes/posts and car decals

Cool to see MS still supporting the 360. Hopefully it doesn't hold back the X1 version much. It's also nice to hear that they are taking ideas that have worked with Forza 5 and using them in another game.

This is another surprise announcement before E3 though. I mean this kind of thing would seem to scream E3 debut, but not this time. It really makes you wonder what they are saving for E3.

Most likely it'll only share content, the 360 version will use the older Forza 4/Horizons engine while the One version will use the Forza 5 engine.

Horizons has been very well designed in that it simply uses the assets from the main game, which arguably should mean that when you buy car packs for the forza main game, you have already paid for the work to make the cars and you should get the Horizons pack to, but..

It's cool they're doing a version for 360 owners, as long as it's not built for the 360 and then "up-ported" to XB1. Always wanted to try playing Forza Horizon.

Very excited for this as liked the first Horizon a lot, it was very much a spiritual successor to Project Gotham with the score attack mindset and the quirky stuff like the balloons and so on. Weather is nice, but i find mostly a gimmick in racing games - NFS has had it for ages and while it always looks good in an arcadey racer it's just cosmetic.

And not wanting to be a downer, but you can count on this being upscaled from 360, just like every other game that we've seen on X1 so far...i am still waiting for truly native titles. Ones with no 360/PS3 version. Not saying this is bad, it's always been the case, but back in the Amiga/C64 or Genesis/Master System days games were so simple building a new one for the more powerful system wasn't a big deal. That's not the case now.

The team behind that Sonic Racing game will be handling the Xbox 360 port, while Playground (And Turn10) will be developing for Xbox One. I'd assume that this means the Xbox One is the lead platform.

Hope you're right, separate teams is good news, but this could still be a project originally developed for 360 - the first year is always tricky heh heh. Just look at Gears 1 and Gears 3...worlds of difference in terms of performance, detail, etc. Even though Gears wasn't even planned for original Xbox. Heck, look at Forza 2 and Forza 3/4, also huge differences that go way deeper than resolution and framerate.

It's cool they're doing a version for 360 owners, as long as it's not built for the 360 and then "up-ported" to XB1. Always wanted to try playing Forza Horizon.

Hope you're right, separate teams is good news, but this could still be a project originally developed for 360 - the first year is always tricky heh heh. Just look at Gears 1 and Gears 3...worlds of difference in terms of performance, detail, etc. Even though Gears wasn't even planned for original Xbox. Heck, look at Forza 2 and Forza 3/4, also huge differences that go way deeper than resolution and framerate.

Xbox One version will use the Forza 5 engine developed for Xbox One whereas 360 will use the FH1 engine. I guess X1 is the lead platform and given how good the first game felt (never had time to finish it ), I think this sounds like the best way possible.

Xbox One version will use the Forza 5 engine developed for Xbox One whereas 360 will use the FH1 engine. I guess X1 is the lead platform and given how good the first game felt (never had time to finish it ), I think this sounds like the best way possible.

Thanks for posting the info. Hope this bodes well for the experience. While i love Forza 5 i don't think it was initially developed for X1, my guess is that it was pushed back from 360 to X1. While it looks good, it can clearly look better, with more anti-aliasing applied. Hopefully FHZ2 does this well.

Cool to see MS still supporting the 360. Hopefully it doesn't hold back the X1 version much. It's also nice to hear that they are taking ideas that have worked with Forza 5 and using them in another game.

This is another surprise announcement before E3 though. I mean this kind of thing would seem to scream E3 debut, but not this time. It really makes you wonder what they are saving for E3.

It does seem like MS is using up the big guns before the show.

Weather system?! Sold!

Yep, this is the thing that has been missing from the Forza series for far too long, cannot wait for this.

Very excited for this as liked the first Horizon a lot, it was very much a spiritual successor to Project Gotham with the score attack mindset and the quirky stuff like the balloons and so on. Weather is nice, but i find mostly a gimmick in racing games - NFS has had it for ages and while it always looks good in an arcadey racer it's just cosmetic.

And not wanting to be a downer, but you can count on this being upscaled from 360, just like every other game that we've seen on X1 so far...i am still waiting for truly native titles. Ones with no 360/PS3 version. Not saying this is bad, it's always been the case, but back in the Amiga/C64 or Genesis/Master System days games were so simple building a new one for the more powerful system wasn't a big deal. That's not the case now.

Have you played any of the Codemasters F1 series? Rain is done pretty well in that, the cars are a lot more prone to sliding and don't have anywhere near as much traction. IMO I don't think NFS was ever going for anything more than pretty and arcade so weather affecting races just wouldn't fit in properly.

Have you played any of the Codemasters F1 series? Rain is done pretty well in that, the cars are a lot more prone to sliding and don't have anywhere near as much traction. IMO I don't think NFS was ever going for anything more than pretty and arcade so weather affecting races just wouldn't fit in properly.

Good point, and to be honest have never played them properly. In a simulation that strives for as much realism as possible weather effects can be material to the experience, as you say. Otherwise it is the NFS situation where it's just dressing. I don't mind it, but i don't mind not having it and people complaining that Forza 5 didn't have it i believe complained about the wrong thing. Either way let's see what FH2 does with the weather, though i suspect it's as you described the NFS situation as they probably wouldn't want to make it too challenging.